Belt-shifter.



A. P. REDDEN.

BELT SHIFTER. APPLICATION man JULY 1,1909.

' 967,673. Patented Aug. 16,1910.

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WITNESSES.

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INVENTO/i 995M012 PEME/a BY Z THE mmms PETERS co.. WASHINGTON. o. c.

ALLISON r. REDDEN, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

BELT-SHIF'IER.

Specification of Letters Patent. P te ted Aug. 16, 1910.

Application filed July 1, 1909. Serial No. 505,534.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALLISON P. REDDEN, a subject of the King of GreatBritain, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of the Bronx,in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and ImprovedBelt-Shifter, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

My invention relates to improvements in belt shifters of the typeemploying atight pulley mounted upon a revoluble shaft and used inconnection with a pulley loose relatively to said tight pulley.

Among the objects of my improvements are the following: I. Toconservethe power applied while the machine is not in use. II. To maintain theloose pulley as tight when the machine is in operation. III. To providemeans for readily removing the belt while the driving shaftis inmotion.IV. To provide mechanism including a shipping lever for stopping orstarting the machine with facility at the will of the operator.

In order to attain the objects above enumerated, I employ the mechanismillustrated in the accompanying drawings forming a part of thisspecification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a substantially vertical section through my improved beltshifter, showing the driving shaft, the tight and loose pulleys, and theclutch mechanism; Fig. 2 is a section taken upon the line 2-2 of Fig. 1,looking in the direction of the arrow, and showing the belt to beshifted; Fig. 3 is an end view of the stationary sleeve for encirclingthe shaft; Fig. l is a side view of the hanger; Fig. 5 is a detailshowing the shipping ring; Fig. 6 is an edge view of the shipping ring;and Fig. 7 shows the shipping fork.

A driving shaft is shown at S and mounted securely upon it is a tightpulley P, the latter being secured rigidly in relation to the shaft. Asleeve Y is made in halves, as indicated in Fig. 3, and has a boreslightly larger than the shaft S, so that between the shaft and the boreof the sleeve is a space T. The sleeve Y is connected rigidly with ahanger H by aid of bolts N and is adjustable as to height by aid ofthese bolts coacting with slots V in the hanger.

At G, Gr are friction shoes which are mounted respectively upon leversD, D, these levers being mounted upon pivots U carried within a loosepulley P. At A is an annular flange forming a part of the pulley P andhaving a smooth inner surface.

At R is a shipping ring mounted to slide freely on the sleeve Y. Thisshipping ring R is connected with the ends of the levers D, D, which aresocketed in the ring by aid of holes 2 Mounted upon the hanger H is astationary lug 4; and journaled upon the latter is a shipping fork F. Ashipping lever L is'attached to the shipping fork F by aid of a pivotpin E.

J ournaled to the shipping lever L by aid of a pivot pin Wis a shipperbar L. The shipper bar L carries guide pins 6 which may be of ordinaryconstruction and engage the belt, Bolts 3 are used for holding togetherportions of the shipping ring which is made in halves, as indicated inFig. 5.

. At Z, Z are two springs which are mounted upon the shipping ring R andengagethe hub of the loose pulley P. This tends to keep the frictionshoes G, G drawn inwardly away from the annular flange A, and in doingthis tends to make the loose pulley and the tight pulley temporarilyindependent of each other.

The operation of my device is as follows: The belt 5, I will say, is atthe start on the loose pulley P. The shipping lever L is in thepo-sitionindicated in Fig. 1. To throw the loose pulley into action, or,in other words, to start the machine, the operator pushes the lower endof the lever L to the left according to Fig. 1. The guide pins 6 lodgeagainst the adjacent edge of the belt, thus forming a fulcrum at thepivot pin W and causing the upper end of the lever L to move to theright according to Fig. 1. The shipping fork F now forces the shippingring R to the left according to Fig. 1, and in doing this operates thelevers D, D. This forces the friction shoes G, G, radially outward andcauses them to engage the inner surface of the flange A. This beingdone, rotation of the tight pulley P causes the loose pulley P to turn.This allows the belt 5 to be guided onto the tight pulley P. As soon,however, as the pressure is relieved from the lever L, the shipping ringR is, by action ofthe springs Z, Z, forced to the right according toFig. 1-that is, away from the hub of the loose pulley. The pressure eX-erted by the friction shoes G bemg thus relaxed, the loose pulley P isfree, and consequently ceases to rotate'w'ith the sliaft S. In order tostop the machine, the lower end of the lever L is moved to the rightaccording to Fig. 1. This guides the belt 5 onto the loose pulley, sothat both the belt and the loose pulley will stop.

From the above description, it will be noted that the loose pulley P ismounted to rotate freely on the sleeve Y and is therefore supportedentirelyfree of the driving shaft S. Such being the case, the only wearupon the loose pulley P, takes place while the machine is being startedor stopped. The belt may be removed, repaired, and put back on the loosepulley, While the shaft 5 is running, and this, too, Without any dangerto the operator.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. The combination of a revoluble shaft, a pulley secured rigidlythereto and revoluble therewith, another pulley revoluble independentlyof said shaft, levers pivoted upon said last-mentioned pulley, frictionshoes carried by said levers and adapted to engage said first-mentionedpulley, a belt to be shifted back and forth from one of said pulleys tothe other, and means co-acting with said belt for actuating said levers.

2. The combination of a revoluble shaft, a pulley fixed thereupon so asto turn therewith, another pulley loose relatively to said shaft andadapted to turn independently of the same, levers pivoted upon one ofsaid pulleys, shoes mounted upon said levers and adapted to engage theother of said pulleys, a belt shifter for moving a belt from one of saidpulleys to the other, and connections from said belt shifter to saidlevers.

3. The combination of a stationary bracket,

a sleeve supported thereby, means for holding said sleeve in adjustedposition relatively to said bracket, a shaft extending through saidsleeve, a pulley fixed upon said shaft, another pulley loose upon saidsleeve, and mechanism mounted upon one of said pulleys and includingshoes for engaging the other of said pulleys for the purpose oftemporarily locking said pulleys together.

4. The combination of a stationary bracket, a sleeve supported thereby,means for holding said sleeve in adjusted position relatively to saidbracket, a shaft extending through said sleeve a pulley fixed upon saidshaft, another pulley loose upon said sleeve, mechanism mounted u on oneof said pulleys and including shoes for engaging the other of saidpulleys, for the purpose of temporarily locking said pulleys together,and a belt shifter connected with said mechanism for the purpose ofmoving a belt at the same time that said mechanism is actuated.

5. The combination of a bracket, a normally stationary sleeve mountedthereupon and adjustable relatively thereto, a revoluble shaft extendinginto said sleeve, a pulley fixed rigidly upon said shaft, another pulleymounted loosely upon said sleeve and adapted to turn independently ofsaid shaft, a lever pivoted upon one of said pulleys, a shoe mountedupon said lever and adapted to engage the other of said pulleys for thepurpose of locking said pulleys together, a belt shifter, and mechanismconnected with said belt shifter and with said lever for the purpose ofactuating said lever whenever said belt shifter is operated.

ALLISON P. REDDEN. lVitnesses A. TRUBE, EMIL RoBI'rzELL.

